Kilroy Was Here

Acrylic on Canvas

36X40 inches

Since the art league decided to do a show on graffiti art, I was motivated to think of something different.  Writing on the walls became the theme of my thinking for awhile.  I thought about why people write on the walls where others can see it.   They have something to say?  They just want to be seen?  They like to vandalize?

I have learned that the majority of graffiti artists take their work seriously and are highly skilled at what they do.  There should be more public walls and use of graffiti to engage communities in discussion.  There is a project involving the community in explaining democracy.  Here is the link. http://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/6641.html

Graffiti has been recognized in museums all over the world.  The Brooklyn Museum had an exhibit in 2006.  Here are a couple of links. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/30/arts/design/30graf.html?fta=y and http://www.hhnlive.com/photos/more/12 .  Enjoy.

I chose Kilroy because I remember the Kilroy graffiti so well from my childhood. It typified graffiti to me.  It started out saying simply that  “an American soldier was here”. Then it became the joy of many a youngster.

“Tag the Wall”, a family fun graffiti project at the Charlotte Art League Gallery Crawl

Graffiti writing is a family thing!

Choosing the colors for her own personal tag.

Little artist tags the wall.

See what I drew, Dad?

Father and daughter sharing the fun of this family art event.

Public Graffiti Wall

“What Was I Going To Say?” New Painting

Acrylic Painting

36X40 inches

Paperwhite Narcissus, Formosa Azalea, Jet Bead

This Narcissus has spread all over the yard.  It makes it impossible to mow until it is finished blooming and building nourishment for next season.

Here are a few non native bloomers in the yard.  I am not as partial to the overly hybridized varieties.  Love the natives. But the blooms have certainly added some verve to the old place.

Formosa Azalea blooms

I have never looked up this flowering shrub. It was here when I moved into this hundred year old house. There were several old favorites, Spirea, Forsythia, Crepe Myrtle etc that some lady of the house, now long dead, planted, perhaps lovingly, in her yard.  I have kept them in honor of her, whoever she was.  My father, a nurseryman, called this one Jet Bead but I never asked what family of plants it is in.  I am assuming that it is called Jet Bead because of it’s jet black berries that really attract the birds.  That is my primary fondness for this shrub that grows under my window.  Birdwatching.

Christmas Fern Fiddle Heads

These posts tonight are not flowers but I still welcome the new growth.

Bloodroot, no blooms this year

Bloodroot next to the fence

I was really looking forward to this blooming this year.  My photos of it last year were awful.  I had learned to use this Kodak a little better and thought I could improve a little.  I have a painting going that needs some more studying the plant.  My dog trampled the flowers which appeared before the leaves.  I thought I had it in a place she wouldn’t want to go. Not so.  I love the dog but am so disappointed.  I guess I will move this clump outside the fence and wait another year.

Magnolia Frazeri Blooms

The bud of a Magnolia Frazeri

My yard is blooming!  Happiness!  I grew this deciduous magnolia native to North Carolina.  I found it while roaming around the woods near a cabin where I was staying on the NC/Tenn line.  It was about fifteen years ago.  There were several of these magnolias in bloom all through the woods and under them all were lots of little sprouts. I didn’t have a shovel with me so brought it home bare roots and about a foot high.  It has survived to enrich my life in my barren city landscape.

A Frazer magnolia full of buds against a stormy spring sky.

Flame Azalea in Bloom

This incredibly showy native azalea is deciduous and hearty in the Piedmont. It one of my favorite shrubs It is a beautiful orangy yellow mass in my yard. I air layered it from some shrubs that my Father had in a section of his nursery devoted to native plants.

Blueberries Threatened by Frost Again

Blueberry from the eastern wilds of North Carolina.

Once again, just as my favorite fruit is in full bloom, we are threatened with frost in Piedmont North Carolina. I was given this plant by my brother (who got it form my father). As a family, we have always enjoyed these blueberries. My father had a large blueberry “patch” and my brother set them out on his property in long rows that gave him a huge crop every year. I have one lonely shrub but I love the fruit. The grocery store berries are tasteless compared to my wild high bush variety (rabbit eye blueberries) with more acid and the twang of the heath family. This one very full and tall shrub bears enough for my husband and me and some birds …..that is, when it escapes these spring frosts.